Nail-holder for hatchets



Patented Oct. 25, I898.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK L. SHIREY, OF LAYTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

NAIL-HOLDER FOR HATCHETS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 613,022, dated October 25, 1898. Application filed January 4,1 898. $eria1No.665,564. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK L. SHIREY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Layton, in the county of Fayette and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Nail-Holder for I-Iatchets, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to hatchets, hammers, or other similar tools for driving nails, and more especially to tools of this class provided with a seat to receive the head of a nail and a spring-arm to hold the nail in position while being struck at the beginning of the operation of insertion, whereby the nail will be held in proper position to be driven without injuring the hand of the operator.

The object'of my invention is to providea hatchet of such construction as will dispense with the necessity of the operator holding the nail in position to be struck with the hammer in order to stick it in the wood at the beginning of the operation of driving it.

With this object in view my invention consists in the improved construction, arrangement, and combination of parts, hereinafter fully described and afterward specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my invention most nearly appertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which-- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a hatchet constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, a portion of the eye and of the handle being shown in section. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of the spring clamping or holding plate detached from the hatchet.

Like letters of reference mark the same parts wherever they occur in the different figures of the drawings.

In the following description of my invention I shall confine myself to the description of a hatchet constructed with my improvement; but it will be obvious to any one skilled in the art to which my invention appertains that it is equally applicable to any and all tools for driving nails.

Referring to the drawings by letters, A is the blade, B the body, and C the head, of a hatchet, which may be of any ordinary or approved construction or material.

In providing the hatchet with my invention I first undercut the inside of the head 0 on the line D until a suitable point E is reached, from which point the cut is continued in a line nearly parallel with the face of the hatchet, as shown at F, the divergence from such right-angular line being slightly inward, so as to give to the nail G the proper inclination to be started or stuck into the wood most advantageously.

H indicates the eye of the hatchet, the upper inner end of which is beveled off and pro- Vided with an opening leadinginward at about an angle of forty-five degrees with the longitudinal direction of the handle.

I is a strip of fiat spring metal provided with a hole J near one of its ends, bent at a slight angle at K and having its opposite end bifurcated, as at L, to form a notch M. In order to secure this holding or clamping spring I to the hatchet, the perforated end is laid upon the beveled inner end of the eye H of the hatchet, as most clearly shown in Fig. 2, and a screw N is inserted through the hole J in the spring and the opening or perforation, before referred to, in the eye and threaded into the wood of thehandle O. In this position the angle K of the spring I is properly placed to have a bearing against the outer edge of the head P of the nail Gwhen seated in the socket or seat made for it in the inner side of the head of the hatchet, as hereinbefore described, and the bifurcated ends L will rest upon the opposite sides of the body of the nail at a slight distance inside of the line of the face of the hatchet, the body of the nail resting partially within the slot M, as most clearly shown in Fig. 2. With the parts in this position the nail can be slipped into the recess or socket in the head of the hatchet from either side and when in position will be held therein yieldingly, as before described, with the angle K of the holding-spring resting against the head of the nail and the bifurcated ends L of the spring embracing the body thereof. hen the nail is thus held, the user of the hatchet may, by simply striking its point against the wood, stick the nail therein with sufficient force to permit of the hatchet being withdrawn from the nail without loosening or withdrawing it. When thus stuck or started in the wood, the nail will be held sufficientl'y rigid to permit of its being driven home by striking it with the head of the hatchet in the usual manner.

By means of my invention the danger of injuring the fingers of the operator while holding the nail in position to be driven with the hatchet in the other hand is entirely obviated, and the user of the hatchet is also enabled to stick a nail in elevated or other out-of-theway positions which cannot be reached by the hand in order to hold a nail for striking. Further than this the user of the hatchet pro"- vided with my invention may hold a board or similar article with one hand against a wall or other vertical structure and start the nail without the necessity of removing the hand fromthe board and perhaps allowing it to slip out of position.

While I have illustratedand-describedthe best' means now known tome for carryin gout my invention, I do not wish to' be understood as restricting myself to the exact details of construction shown and described, but hold that any slight changes or variations, such as might suggest themselves to the ordinary Inechanic, would properly fall within the limit and scope of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by 7 Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. A hatchet or other tool for driving nails, provided with an undercut recess in the inner side of its head, the bottom of which recess is slightly inclined from the line of parallelism with the face of the hatchet, the inner edge of the eye of the hatchet being beveled off and perforated as described, in combination with a flat spring bent at a slight angle near its mid-length, provided with a hole near one end and having its opposite end bifurcated, and a screw inserted through the hole in the end of the spring and through the opening in the eye of the hatchet and threaded into the wood of the handle, substantially as described.

2. The combination with the hatchet provided with the head C, having a recess formed in the inner side thereof with inclined side D and bottom F,of the fiat spring I, bent at K, provided with hole I in one end, and the notch M in theothenformed between the bifurcated ends L, and the screw N,-pa'ssing through the hole J and the perforation in the eye H of the hatchet, into the wood of the handle 0', the angle K being in position to bear upon the head P of the nail Grand hold it in the recess in the hatchet, and the bifurcated ends L bein'g'in position to embrace the body of said nail, substantially as described.

FRANK L. SI-IIREY. Witnesses:

J. B. SHIREY, J. G. MURPHY, 

